Replies

Meditation: Mark 8:11-13

The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order

He sighed. (Mark 8:12)

You’re going about your business, when out of the blue, someone makes a snide comment to your face. What would you do? If you’re like most people, you would get angry, and you would be tempted to make a vengeful retort. If you’re already stressed, that same comment might make you explode into a rage. But with the eyes of faith, we can see how these reactions are a sign that our fallen nature might be taking over—and that it’s a good time to remember what Jesus did in that same situation.

Surrounded by enemies who were constantly testing him, Jesus would have been justified in losing his temper. He was fully human, after all, so their slights likely hurt him just as much as they hurt us. But Jesus never returned their hostility with venom. When his tormentors asked him for yet another sign, Jesus just “sighed from the depth of his spirit” (Mark 8:12). Although clearly frustrated by their persistent unbelief, he didn’t retaliate. He just moved on quietly.

Jesus had a phenomenal mastery over his emotional life! While we often don’t need much to provoke us to pride or defensive anger, he always chose the way of humility. He knew that he didn’t have to promote himself. He knew that his mission was to do his Father’s will and to make him known. In this way, as in so many other ways, he showed himself to be the “perfect Son.”

But all is not lost for us. We can do more than just try with all our might to imitate Jesus—or worse, just give up in the face of challenges. Jesus’ own divine strength can become our strength. Because he experienced all the temptations we face and yet never gave in, we can ask him to bear our aggravation and frustrations. Because he offered a perfect sacrifice on the cross, we can share in his victorious life. When we embrace Godly self-control in our moments of anger, it’s a sign that his Spirit is at work in us. Then, people won’t see our “bad side”—they’ll see only Jesus!

“Lord Jesus, I marvel that you took on my ‘messy’ emotions as well as my sin. Fill me with your compassion so that I can forgive and love those who have hurt me.”

James 1:1-11; Psalm 119:67-68, 71-72, 75-76

Regnum Christi

Loving Christ for Who He Is

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation." And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

Introductory Prayer:Lord, I can be so cold to your salvific presence as I hurry about living the moment and becoming so sufficient unto myself. There is little wonder that I find it hard to bring myself to prayer—to use faith to know you, divine love to live in you, and theological hope to trust in you. I approach you now, wanting only to be a more faithful disciple of your Kingdom.

Petition: Lord, grant a faith that will console your heart.

1. Sending Christ away:G. K. Chesterton once asserted, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” Jesus truly loves us and would never refuse a humble soul the true goods he needs for fulfillment and salvation. If our wants, like those of the Pharisees, end up leaving God silent and our spiritual life cold, it may be a call for us to purify our hearts of the remaining dregs of our self-centeredness. We should carefully avoid the attitudes and words that repel Christ. Christ will not let himself be loved for who he is not, and he will not indulge the desires we have for who we are not. We can want our happiness to be many things, but Christ wants us to accept that his will is the heart of our fulfillment.

2. Prayer Is My Daily Breath of Air for the Soul: Jesus converses with our souls in a language that flows from supernatural attitudes of faith, hope and love. He will remain silent, however, if we drag him down to the small, narrow framework of our reason and calculations—wanting to “figure it out for ourselves” before we will act. Jesus does not want to be Superman, who comes into our lives only when things are really bad and all is lost. Rather, Christ intervenes because he wants a life of communion and grace day after day, sharing his life with each and every soul. He wants our living in fidelity and childlike trust to be like breathing the air.

3. The Signs That Bring Christ to Us:Christ did give us sure signs of his daily presence in our lives. The first is the sign of the cross. Only faith will unlock its mystery and bring us to the encounter between our sin and God’s mercy. Sin is at the heart of the worst that can go wrong with our life; the sign of the Crucified One is its cure. Faith will permit us, as it did the good thief, to see Christ’s love at the center of the universe and the world being drawn towards it as if into a vortex. Another sign he left us is the Eucharist. It is the most powerful sign because it contains the author of the sign himself. Christ humbles himself to stay with us at all costs. Under the appearance of bread and wine, he reveals what he wants to be for our souls; Under the veil of the sacrament, we learn to encounter Christ personally as pure love. “On the night he was betrayed he showed the depth of his love…” Let these signs be the “love language” by which we talk to Christ in the way he wants to be known, loved and adored.

Conversation with Christ: Christ, let my prideful demands melt away before a mature encounter with your divine love. Keep my immaturity from impeding the expansion of your Kingdom; rather, let me humbly accept my need to change the way I relate to your true plan for my life.

Resolution: I will spend some time today acknowledging and thanking Jesus for the signs he has given me to know, love and serve him better in my life